A drop goal 90 seconds from time by Dave Walder gave Wasps their first win on the road this season, ending five years of defeat and bad feeling in Stockport.

The fly‑half's kick, with his side ­trailing by two points, took the gloss off a perfect kicking display by his opposite number Charlie Hodgson. Hodgson, his eyes firmly on a place in England's World Cup squad in 11 months, landed eight out of eight kicks on a night spoiled by a greasy ball and two sides struggling to repeat former glories. For a man ­making his first appearance of the season he also managed the game reasonably well although his coach, Mike Brewer, seemed to see it differently.

"We endeavoured to lose the game and we did," said the New Zealander, ­adding he would be having words with ­Hodgson. "We went in and out of our game plan, Walder stuck to theirs for 80 minutes."

Wasps' New Zealand coach was much happier with his lot although there were questions about either his side's discipline or the performance of the referee, David Rose. "Either we have to look at our discipline or what some of the penalties were for," said Tony Hanks. "I'm confused."

Until Walder stepped up it had looked like another bad night on the road for Wasps. All they had to show for a difficult evening was a lot of hard work and a scruffy Dan Ward-Smith try which ended 57 minutes of domination by the boot. Then the Sale full-back Paul ­Williams threw the ball dead and for once, instead of the penalty, a more adventurous option was chosen and rewarded when Wasps drove their line‑out. First the ­replacement hooker Rob Webber – who managed only five minutes' play before being sent to the sin bin – broke free before Ward-Smith, in the second row, wriggled over.

Against that, and despite Brewer's comments later, the Sale fly-half kicked eight out of eight penalties in the first game since damaging his shoulder with England in Australia and New Zealand. The fly-half, who has missed two World Cups with injury, has been looking to play a more open game but it was his boot which ruled the roost.

Walder matched him kick for kick in the first half but then had to watch a monster from 50 metres sail over the bar at the start of the second before finishing with 18 points against Hodgson's 24. After losing to late kicks at Gloucester last week Wasps headed south happy and in seventh position while 7,200 Sale fans were left to ponder Walder's smash and grab. However, they did at least see a game despite the heavy rain which fell all day and fully tested Edgeley Park's new drainage system as well as Mr Rose's nerves.